Department for Education

Schools: Community Relations

Nickie Aiken: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to promote community cohesion in (a) local authority schools, (b) free schools and (c) academies; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Schools are at the heart of our communities and they have a crucial role to play in promoting integration and bringing families from all walks of life together. All schools must promote community cohesion; and are required to actively promote our shared values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. These values are an important part in ensuring our children and young people understand how, as citizens, they can play a positive role in shaping cohesive and integrated communities; and providing them with the skills, and knowledge that will prepare them for life in a modern, diverse Britain.Promotion of these values is part of Ofsted’s inspection framework, and the Department has published guidance to schools on promoting these important values as part of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. In 2016, the Department also launched the Educate Against Hate website, through which we continue to provide free resources for teachers and school leaders to support their promotion of these values. This includes the Department’s Respectful School Communities toolkit; a self-review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole- school approach which promotes respect and discipline, helping to combat bullying, harassment and prejudice of any kind.The Department is also introducing compulsory relationships education for all primary aged pupils, relationships and sex education for all secondary aged pupils, and health education for all pupils in state funded schools from September 2020. These subjects are designed to give pupils the knowledge they need to lead happy, safe and healthy lives and to foster respect for other people and for difference.As part of our commitments in the Government’s Integrated Communities Action Plan, the Department has also funded an expanded national school linking programme, which seeks to encourage meaningful social mixing between different types of schools, and foster understanding of those with different backgrounds, faiths and beliefs. In the last year, The Linking Network has worked with over 540 schools, leading to over 22,500 pupils taking part in activities to support integration and community cohesion.As part of this same package, the Department has also strengthened expectations for all new free schools on the promotion of community cohesion and integration, to make sure they are doing all that they can to ensure children and young people are able to participate fully in life in modern Britain. To support this, the Department has introduced updated application criteria, and as part of our assessment process are considering the potential impact on integration and community cohesion, including the intake of neighbouring schools, before approving a new school.

Schools: Coronavirus

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the covid-19 outbreak, if he will issue guidance on precautions that pregnant school and college staff should take.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 23 March 2020



Our school and college leaders are central to the country’s response to this current crisis.School and college staff who are pregnant should follow the central guidance from Public Health England (PHE). The guidance states that anyone who is pregnant should be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures. The Government would expect all employers to support any staff who are pregnant and at risk. The guidance from PHE is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people.Social distancing guidance for educational settings has been published, and states that staff at an increased risk of serious illness as a result of COVID-19, such as those that are pregnant, should work from home where possible, and education and childcare settings should endeavour to support this. This additional guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-social-distancing-in-education-and-childcare-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-social-distancing-in-education-and-childcare-settings.

Pupils: Health

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on school pupils’ performance and wellbeing of financial stress in their families.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 23 March 2020



The Government recognises that, for many complex reasons, economic disadvantage can have an adverse effect on pupil attainment and wellbeing.Through the pupil premium, the Department has spent more than £18 billion since 2011, including £2.4 billion in 2019-20, to tackle educational inequality. We established the Education Endowment Fund with £137 million to research and promote the most effective ways of using pupil premium funding so that all schools can make a difference to the futures of their disadvantaged pupils. Since 2011, the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has decreased at both ages 11 and 16.The Department has taken a range of actions to help schools support the mental wellbeing of their pupils. This includes teaching pupils about mental wellbeing through the introduction of health education and improving collaboration with external agencies to ensure those pupils that need specialist support and treatment get it quickly. New Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) will be established in 20% to 25% of the country by 2023, supporting children and young people with mild to moderate mental health issues, and helping those with more severe needs to access the right specialist services locally. MHSTs should be delivered in a way to take account of disadvantage and seek to reduce health inequalities. We will also fund training for senior mental health leads in every state funded school and college in England, providing the skills and knowledge required to put in place effective whole school and college approaches to promote and support good mental health. We also have several initiatives in place to further support schools to develop and implement whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing.

Schools: Coronavirus

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on school closures as a result of covid-19.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 23 March 2020



My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, held several conversations with his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland regarding school closures. Cooperation with devolved administrations is ongoing.

Nurseries: Coronavirus

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to provide support for parents with children at nurseries that are closed but require fees to be paid that are (a) self-isolating, (b) diagnosed with covid-19, (c) temporarily on Statutory Sick Pay and (d) claiming employment and support allowance as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether nurseries receiving support with the cost of employee salaries should stop or reduce charges to parents for services not being provided as a result of the closure of childcare and education settings.

Vicky Ford: We are working hard to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on all parts of our society, including individuals and business. Childcare providers will have individual agreements with parents and therefore we urge all childcare providers to be reasonable and balanced in their dealings with parents, given the great uncertainty they will be facing too.We acknowledge that in many cases, the insurance that early years providers have will not cover them for income lost during COVID-19-related closures. That is one of the reasons why we announced on 17 March that we will continue to pay funding to local authorities for the early years entitlements for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds and that funding would not be clawed back from local authorities due to closures or children being unable to attend.We expect local authorities to follow the Department for Education’s position and to continue paying childminders, schools and nurseries for the early years entitlements – even if providers have suspended delivery of those entitlements due to COVID-19. This protects a significant proportion of early years providers’ income. In addition, the government has set out a range of support for businesses and workers to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on them. Many early years providers will qualify for this support.This support being provided for individuals includes the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which means that for each employee not working but kept on payroll, the government will contribute 80% of their wages up to £2,500, backdated to 1 March 2020. Self-employed people may be eligible for taxable grants under the government’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Self-employment Income Support Scheme. Further details of these schemes can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme.Details of further assistance and benefits available for individuals can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/support-for-those-affected-by-covid-19/support-for-those-affected-by-covid-19.We will be keeping under close review what further support businesses and workers may require.Guidance on closures of childcare and early years settings is available: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.

Special Educational Needs: Coronavirus

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his Department's plans are for children who were in the process of applying for an Education, Health and Care plan at the time schools were closed due to the covid-19 outbreak.

Vicky Ford: The welfare of children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and their parents or carers is a high priority for the government, especially during this period of uncertainty. We are working closely with colleagues across government to ensure that appropriate arrangements, and support, are in place for all of the department’s sectors – from early years and childcare to schools and children’s social care, and for vulnerable groups including children with special educational needs.If the local authority has not yet issued an education, health and care (EHC) plan for a child, then they will not automatically be identified in the group of children considered to be vulnerable. However, educational settings and local authorities have discretion to undertake a risk assessment and offer support to children who are in the process of obtaining an EHC plan, and any other children they consider vulnerable, if that is needed.If a child already has an EHC plan the local authority remains responsible for maintaining it, including until any appeal to the tribunal has been heard and resolved. However, the Coronavirus Act 2020 allows the Secretary of State for Education, where appropriate, to temporarily lift the statutory duty on local authorities to maintain the precise provision in EHC plans, with local authorities needing instead to apply ‘reasonable endeavours’ to support these children and their families. Any changes made to a child or young person’s provision in their EHC plan would only remain in place temporarily.We are also proposing to amend SEND regulations to provide for flexibility over matters such as the timescales in EHC needs assessments, and the review, re-assessment and amendment processes where particular cases are affected by the COVID-19 situation.The government has published guidance on ongoing provision for and vulnerable children which can be found at the link below:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-vulnerable-children-and-young-people.

Free School Meals: Coronavirus

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the free school meals voucher scheme will be made available; and whether there will be retrospective funding of vouchers in the event that the scheme is not available immediately after schools close due to the covid-19 outbreak.

Vicky Ford: Schools can access the national voucher scheme as of Tuesday 31 March. This scheme allows schools to order a single voucher to the value of £15 each week for every child eligible for benefits-related free school meals who is not attending school, set a weekly £15 rolling voucher, or combine funding where a family has more than one child eligible. Schools will not have to pay for these vouchers as the costs for this scheme will be picked up centrally by the Department for Education.Schools can also continue with a local solution to supporting pupils eligible for free school meals.We understand that other approaches may mean that schools incur additional expenses. Guidance is available on how we will compensate schools who incur these additional costs, including prior to the introduction of the national voucher scheme, in providing free school meals or vouchers to pupils affected by COVID-19:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools/school-funding-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19-for-the-period-march-to-july-2020.Further guidance is available at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.

Special Educational Needs; Children and Young People

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to ensure that children and young people with (a) speech, language and communication needs and (b) other special educational needs and disabilities continue to receive adequate support during the school closure period.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to issue guidance to (a) speech and language specialists and (b) other specialist staff who work in schools on continued support for children and young people during the school closure period.

Vicky Ford: We are working closely with colleagues across government to ensure that all appropriate arrangements, and support, are in place for all DfE sectors – from the early years and childcare, schools and children’s social care, and for vulnerable groups including children with special educational needs.We understand that parents will be worried about continued provision for their children with special educational needs now that schools have closed. Local authorities, schools and colleges, together with parents, should assess the risks to children and young people with Education, Health and Care plans (EHC plans) to judge whether they can be safely cared for at home or whether it is safer for them to remain at school or college. Local authorities and education settings have discretion to do a similar risk assessment for any individual children and young people who do not have an EHC plan but who have complex needs that could mean it is safer for them to be at school or college than at home.The government has published questions and answers about the provisions being made for vulnerable children and young people, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-vulnerable-children-and-young-people.We have also published guidance to support management of children and young people in residential educational settings, including boarding schools, residential special schools and specialist colleges and children’s homes: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-isolation-for-residential-educational-settings.Further useful guidance on social distancing can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-social-distancing-in-education-and-childcare-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-social-distancing-in-education-and-childcare-settings.We encourage people to keep up to date by regularly checking the GOV.UK webpages, which is where we will publish reliable updates and guidance.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Social Rented Housing: Antisocial Behaviour

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to assist landlords who have nuisance tenants in social housing.

Christopher Pincher: Social landlords have the power to seek the re-possession of a tenant’s home where they can demonstrate to the court that the tenant concerned is in breach of the terms of their tenancy agreementLandlords can rely on the further remedies available through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 ('the 2014 Act') which provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to anti-social behaviour.In response to the Covid-19 emergency, all possession cases before the courts, including possession action against tenants for anti-social behaviour, have been suspended for 3 months. This reflects Public Health England’s advice that moving home at the moment is strongly advised against.

Cabinet Office

Infected Blood Inquiry

Christian Matheson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to meet representatives of victims and families of the contaminated blood scandal on a framework for compensation, before the conclusion of the Infected Blood Inquiry.

Penny Mordaunt: In January 2020, the then Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health met campaigners representing people infected and affected. A number of issues were raised, including support that would assist people outside of the inquiry process. Ministers have committed to looking at these issues carefully and to report back on where progress can be made.

Government Departments: Brexit

Stephen Farry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants are working on the (a) negotiations for and (b) planning of the future relationship with the EU, broken by down (a) department and (b) grade.

Penny Mordaunt: The Task Force Europe team in No 10 consists of 48 civil servants (as at 20 March) across all civil service grades. The Unit works closely with colleagues from across Whitehall on negotiations on our future relationship with the EU.